Mar 14 Leading High Potentials into the Brilliant Zone to Play Their Biggest Game
Those who procrastinate in terms of human resource and leadership development will lose ground as more proactive competitors move to the forefront and seize the day to take the lead and score a win. But each of us has a unique potential to shine brighter. Here are three things every leader must do to help people enter that rarified “brilliance zone” of high performance and dynamic professional presence.
1) Calibrate the Brilliance Zone
Find what your people are good at doing by measuring their talents, passions, and aptitudes. Once you’ve calibrated their potential you can begin to leverage their current performance to take them from their baseline to the goal line. Are they more analytical, conceptual, or creative? Do they find their zone and do their best work when tasked with left-brain or right brain activities? Tap into their “flow state” and put your direct reports into the zone. They’ll become high performers with outstanding value-adding potential in terms of your company’s succession planning strategy. As they start to shine it is your job to coach them upward, champion their talent, and showcase their contributions to help them earn promotions.
2) Devise the Playbook Based on the Players
The best way to get everyone on the same page is not to clone reports in your own image but to hone them based on their own unique brilliance. Diamond cutters don’t impose facets and shape stones arbitrarily. They study the gem on its own merits and then do what it takes to make its authentic natural light shine forth. Once that is accomplished they can successfully combine several jewels into one breathtaking design. Synergistic teams are those where everyone brings something different to the table, so encourage creative diversity and build your playbook around the talent that emerges.
3) Everyone’s a Champ on a Winning Team
Discover and leverage everyone’s talent because people are the biggest asset to any organization. When every member of your team is working in their realm of brilliance their potential becomes obvious to top management. When you invest in developing people for larger responsibilities and make them shine, their brilliance reflects upon you as a championship coach and indispensible leader. That confirms your own career success.
Remember that while champions may be acknowledged and celebrated on game day, they are created months in advance on the practice field and in the locker room.
Sarah Hathorn, AICI CIP, CPBS is an internationally distinguished executive coach, corporate consultant, professional speaker, and the founding CEO of her own company, Illustra Consulting. A career acceleration and leadership presence expert, Hathorn created the innovative Predictable Promotion System™, a 10-step proprietary process she uses to coach managers aspiring to be directors, directors seeking vice presidential promotions, and VP’s eager to ascend to the C-suite. Hathorn served as a senior level executive for a Fortune 100 company for 25 years, and she has more than 30 years of experience mentoring high potentials for rapid career advancement and extraordinary success.
Illustra Consulting
Copyright © 2011, Sarah Hathorn, AICI CIP, CPBS
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Sarah Hathorn, CEO of Hathorn Consulting Group, is the go-to-expert in working with leaders and companies to create successful corporate DNA. As an executive coach, consultant and speaker she collaborates globally with clients and brands such as Deloitte, McKesson, Kimberly-Clark, Sherwin-Williams, Home Depot and other leading organizations.
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